


Brand New Day

by punch_kicker15



Category: Firefly
Genre: Canon Character of Color, Community: femslash_minis, F/F, Post-Serenity, Rare Pairings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-27
Updated: 2016-01-27
Packaged: 2018-05-16 12:25:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5828503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/punch_kicker15/pseuds/punch_kicker15
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A couple years after the events of Serenity, Zoe and Saffron come to a mutually beneficial arrangement.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Brand New Day

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bruttimabuoni (brutti_ma_buoni)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/brutti_ma_buoni/gifts).



The bar’s full of noisy New Year’s drunks, yelling and singing off-key, so sneaking up to sit beside Saffron is easy.

Zoe picks up a jiaozi from the plate, says, “I hear you have a sweet gig and need a partner. I want in.” The dumpling’s good--plenty of ginger to spice up the bland soy-shrimp filling.

Saffron blinks once, then recovers her poise. “Thought you held a grudge over that time I tried to kill you. Or did turning me into the Feds make us square?”

“That was just part of the game. I didn’t take it personal.”

“Ha! Me neither.’’ Then she stares at Zoe with a look that’s a mite intimidating, for such a bitty thing. “Why’re you asking?”

Zoe bites down on her tongue for a second. “Got a daughter now. Can’t risk getting killed over one of Mal’s brilliant schemes.”

Saffron’s pretty red lips twist in a sardonic grin. “I hear that, sweetie. But my gig’s not your kind of work. You’re a bit too sincere for it.”

Zoe smiles back. “I can learn insincerity.” She leans forward, “And I can let your last eighteen husbands know where you are, if I’m so inclined.”

Saffron dips a dumping into sauce and takes a bite. “Ok, we split proceeds ninety-ten, on account of your learning curve.”

“Eighty-twenty, and I’ll tell your husband Jethro that you were last seen in Reaver territory.”

***  
Six weeks pass, and Zoe dives into the latest scheme Saffron’s cooked up: scamming lonely men on the Central Planets by pretending to be a poor hayseed on the Border Planets who just needs a helping hand--a hand full of cash, naturally.

They’re working out of a tiny office building downtown. Saffron has figured out how to make their messages appear to be coming from the Border Planets. It probably wouldn’t stand up to Fed-level scrutiny, but it’s more than convincing enough for their marks.

Zoe settles into her new identity as Amethyst (Saffron says the marks love exotic-sounding names.) Amethyst is a barmaid (Saffron says the marks love feeling superior about their own jobs), never married, with no children (Saffron says the marks don’t like imagining any competition for attention).

It’s practically second nature by now: listen to these men blather on, make sympathetic noises, wait for the right moment, then casually mention some hardship--a sudden rent increase, a minor-but-painful injury or illness, a fire that left her homeless--and the men will offer to send money to make things right. 

“I don’t get it,” Zoe said, after Saffron explained the scam to her. “Why don’t they just go to a Companion?”

Saffron snorted. “These fools don’t want to admit that they’re paying for attention. And they want the woman to be grateful. Companions won’t bow to them the way they want.”

This was small-potatoes stuff for Saffron. Kind of a relief that Zoe wasn’t the only one to fall a bit.

Zoe reminded herself that she’d get to go home to her sister’s house and see her daughter every night. Reason enough to waste her talents on this penny-ante fraud.

***  
“--so I asked her what she thought about the news from Bellerophon, and she said she hadn’t been paying attention! It’s like she doesn’t even try to engage me, or care about my interests. Everything is about the kids.” Her mark from Capital City has a whiny, nasally voice that grates on Zoe’s last nerve. He looks expectantly at her, waiting for the sympathy.

Something inside Zoe breaks. “Let me get this straight. Your wife works all day taking care of your four kids. I work at a bar cleaning up other people’s puke. And you think you got it rough because your wife don’t have time to pay attention to political scandals? Maybe if you weren’t such a selfish hwa din, she might wanna engage with you.”

She cuts off the transmission before he can respond, slumps down on the couch.

“Oh, hon,” Saffron murmurs, “I appreciate the dedication to playing your part, but you gotta have some distance from the role.”

Zoe sighs and tugs at her necklace. “I know. Just some men got no idea how good they got it.”

“If they did, they wouldn’t need us.” Saffron joins her on the couch. “You look tense, sweetie. You want some help relaxing?” Her hand brushes lightly against Zoe’s thigh, and their eyes lock for a moment. 

Not much has felt good in the last year. Zoe sucks on her teeth for a moment, then says, “Ok, but no lips.” There’s no way of knowing whether that killer lipstick Saffron’s wearing is really killer lipstick, after all.

Saffron’s hands are lightning-quick, and she gets both of them out of their clothes in the blink of an eye. 

Zoe caresses those perfect breasts, tracing circles around the nipples, until Saffron sighs a perfect breathy gasp that seems almost genuine. But it’s not, which is fine by Zoe. She’s not ready for anything real just yet. This is best done with someone who knows how to keep it unreal.


End file.
